Absolut Berlin Distills the Spirit of the City

The Fernsehturm TV tower, a relic of a once divided city, stands over the city of Berlin. In the nearly 25 years since East and West Berlin unified, this icon which once represented a controlled message of a dismantled government, now stands for a city defined by artistic freedom and creative discovery.

When Berlin based artist Zhivago Duncan created his design for a limited edition Absolut Berlin bottle, he placed the tower at the center. In wanting to capture the “open-mindedness and sense of adventure” and “rebellious spirit that fuels the fire of the creative heart,” he imagined someone tagging the Fernsehturm’s spherical crown with the words “Es ist nicht einfach immer ein Rebell zu seine,” which translates to “It’s not easy to always be a rebel.”

For a city where anything seems possible, these words are a rally cry to continue pushing the boundaries and to follow creative impulses that can lead you to new creations and discoveries.

In addition to the TV tower, the bottle also features a color palette that reflects aspects of Duncan’s own experience of Berlin: gray for the old cement structures, green for the urban forests, turquoise for the oxidation of old statues, cadmium yellow for the golden bricks during a Berlin summer sunset, and pink for the sunrise after a long night out engaging the city and its people.

While it’s impossible to capture all the details of a city in one image, this incredible artist has certainly captured a strong essence that any one can grasp and be inspired by.